Cheese Grater in Paradise

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Why hello there. That was a long 9 month silence. Apparently I am incapable of blogging while pregnant. Oh yeah... I had another baby. Meet Cruz. She's the sweetest.

Trace is now 3 1/2 and the best big brother I have ever seen. He loves his sister fiercely.

I'm going to try and get my little space of the internet up and running again. I miss cooking. Turns out I only cook fun meals when I blog about them. So I'm sure the hubs will be happy. I bet he misses trying new recipes for dinner.

Our house is *almost* finished being remodeled. I can't wait to share all the before and after pictures in some house tour posts.

I also opened an Etsy shop! It is mostly baby items, but I do make headbands big enough to fit adults. It has been fun getting to sew on a regular basis!

I have lots of kiddo posts, house before and after posts and some recipes in the works. Talk soon?!?! I sure hope so!

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Some of my favorite blogs do random posts about their
kiddos. Kind of like an online journal. I’m going to start doing updates on my
sweet boy as well as some Trace Says posts featuring the runny, random things
he says.

This morning we were on our way to one of his sitter’s
houses. A newish song came on with lyrics stating “I’m all about that bass,
bout that bass, no treble.” Well Trace kept singing “All about that face,bout
that face, no trouble.”

The other day we were playing in the backyard as we do
almost every evening. It was starting to near bath/bed time so I told Trace
that he needed to start picking up his toys. He replied “Mommy don’t worry
about it.”

Trace doesn’t like to share his food. Mommy doesn’t either
so I’m pretty sure he gets that from me. Anyway, we were driving to one of the
baby-sitter’s (my sis in law) before work and Trace was shoving his yogurt
covered raisins in his mouth pretty fast. When he finished he said “Look Mommy!
All done! Don’t have to share with dem (them) kids (meaning his 2 cousins).”

Lately Trace has been calling Chad and I “You guys.” It
cracks me up every time.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Trace is a veteran when it comes to Blue’s hockey games, but
had never been to a Cardinal’s game before. A Cardinal’s game had been on our
to-do list last summer, but we never got around to it. Our summer calendar started
filling up fast so Chad and I picked a date and set a plan to finally take T to
a ball game. And boy was he excited about it!!! He watches the ball games on tv
and loves it. I took him to one of Chad’s softball games at the beginning of
summer and after we left Trace said “I liked Cardinals game Mommy.” Poor little
guy had no idea how different the actual Card’s game would be compared to Chad’s
Sunday night softball league. Ha!

The game was around lunchtime so we got downtown early and
grabbed some burritos at Ballpark Village. Those burritos are to die for.
Seriously so good. I had brought some waters in our backpack diaper bag so we
took the burritos into the stadium to eat. Well the temperature was in the high
90s and we had bleacher seats. Absolutely no relief from the sun! Trace sat
still for awhile while he took it all in. Then he started to get antsy. I
packed lots of snacks for him, but we had to keep going for walks to keep him
occupied.

All in all Trace did really good. He only made it until the
5th inning, but it really was very hot. Chad and I were
uncomfortable so I can’t imagine how poor Trace felt. We went to the game
knowing there was a good chance we wouldn’t see the end of it so we were
completely ok with leaving early. Next time we take him it will be to an
evening game! I think he’ll do much better when it isn’t unbearably hot.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Sooo…… remember the 4th of July? Yeah it was
awhile ago, but I’m just now sharing the recipe for the dessert I made. And it’s
a healthy one. Hollar. I like this recipe because you can adapt it for whatever
flavor you’re in the mood for. Oh and did I mention it takes about 5 minutes
start to finish. Double holler.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups Greek yogurt (fruit flavored tastes best)

1 small box of gelatin mix (I like to use Jolly Rancher
flavors)

Can of whipped cream (optional)

Sprinkles (optional)

For The Fourth of July I made two batches. One was with
strawberry Greek yogurt and blue raspberry gelatin mix. The other was
strawberry Greek yogurt and wild berry gelatin mix. I wanted the colors to be
red and blue and these gelatin flavors worked with that.

Monday, July 14, 2014

This is a super easy one guys! And all of the ingredients are ones that I typically always have on hand. I love dishes like that.

Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Ingredients:

1 (6 oz) package of chicken stuffing

1 ½ pounds of chicken, cut into bite sized pieces

1 (16oz) bag of frozen broccoli florets, thawed and drained

1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup

½ lb (8 oz) Velveeta cut into ½ inch cubes

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Prepare stuffing according to box directions. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400. Grease 13x9 baking dish.

Combine chicken, Velveeta, broccoli, onion powder, Italian
seasoning and cream of chicken soup in a large mixing bowl. Pour into casserole
dish and spread out evenly. Pour the stuffing on top and spread out evenly.

Bake uncovered for 40
minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.

*** I typically prepare this the evening before, cover with
foil and place in the fridge. Then Chad will throw in the oven while I’m on my
way home from work and dinner is completely ready by 5:45. Easy!

Divide sugar cookie dough into 24 pieces and roll into
balls. Place each ball in the muffin pan and press down to slightly form into
the pan.

Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes. Watch closely!! If they are
undercooked they will fall apart when you try to remove them from the pan. If
they are burnt…. Well burnt cookies are just terrible.

While cookies are bake, prepare the pudding and chill it.

After cookies are removed, let cool slightly in pan then
remove and let them finish cooking on a cooling rack. If they cool completely
in the pan they will begin to harden and become very hard to remove. This
happened to me once and it was a disaster!

After cookies are completely cooled, top with a spoonful of
pudding and a banana slice. If you aren’t going to serve immediately you’ll
need to place them in the fridge to keep cool. Right before serving top with
cool whip.

Monday, June 30, 2014

This is Chad’s number 1 request meal and I honestly don’t
make it very often. I’m not really sure why because it’s fairly simple to make
these wings and they are really good. They have just the right amount of spice.

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/ 2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

3 lbs wings

Combine soy sauce, honey, both sugars, fennel, cayenne,
allspice, thyme, ginger and garlic in a blender. Add the vinegar, lime and
orange juice and blend until smooth. Marinate the wings at least 4 hours. I
typically marinate overnight at least.

Preheat oven to 350. You’ll want to line your baking sheets
in parchment paper...This will help with the clean up! Bake 20 minutes.

Meanwhile bring the marinade to a boil over med heat and
cook until reduced by 1/3, about 10-15 minutes.

Remove the wings from the oven and brush with glaze. Raise
temp to 400 and bake 20 minutes longer.